Classica Sinica Medica

逆順 简体 逆顺

nì shùn

Adverse and favourable · ni shun

Also rendered: Adverse and favourable (this site; 逆 as going against, 順 as going with, which is what the pair is used for here) · Favourable and unfavourable (the looser clinical sense; right about the use, and it drops 逆's sense of meeting head-on)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-10-06

At a glance

Pinyin
nì shùn
Simplified
逆顺
Literal
逆 nì — to go against, to meet head-on, and so what is adverse; 順 shùn — to follow along, and so what goes with the grain. 《說文》 has 逆，迎也 and 順，理也. 然後乃可以言死生之逆順: only then may one speak of what is adverse and what is favourable in life and death. One occurrence, closing the chapter's teaching on prognosis, and the word the chapter has been building toward since 從其氣則和，違其氣則病.
Shuowen
**「逆」讀 nì，本篇1見，止在「死生之逆順」一語**；**「順」讀 shùn，本篇1見，止在「死生之逆順」一語**；**《說文》：逆，迎也；順，理也**；**「逆順」本篇1見，在第二十七段之末**

In brief

Adverse and favourable — the two directions a case can go, and the thing the chapter says a physician may finally speak of, but only after the year has been established, its qi known, and the corresponding qi of left and right seen. The condition is the point: 先立其年，以知其氣。左右應見，然後乃可以言死生之逆順. Nothing in the chapter allows a verdict to be given before that, and the chapter has already ruled out the one shortcut that might have served — the pulse cannot read the changes of heaven and earth.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 逆順
逆者迎而逆之，順者循而理之
然後乃可以言死生之逆順。 — Suwen 67
2
The condition, first 先立其年，以知其氣
不立年則無以言逆順
先立其年，以知其氣。 — Suwen 67
3
The condition, second 左右應見
左右之氣既見，而後可言
左右應見，然後乃可以言死生之逆順。 — Suwen 67
4
What favourable looks like 從其氣則和
從之則和，和則順
從其氣則和，違其氣則病。 — Suwen 67
5
What adverse looks like 違其氣則病
違之則病，甚則逆
違其氣則病。 — Suwen 67
6
The shortcut that is closed 無以脉診
天地之變不可以脉診，故必先立年
天地之變，無以脉診。此之謂也。 — Suwen 67

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display
2 passages
Suwen 67 Suwen 67 · 五運行大論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：從其氣則和，違其氣則病。不當其位者病，迭移其位者病，失守其位者危，尺寸反者死，陰陽交者死。先立其年，以知其氣。左右應見，然後乃可以言死生之逆順。 歧伯曰：从其气则和，违其气则病。不当其位者病，迭移其位者病，失守其位者危，尺寸反者死，阴阳交者死。先立其年，以知其气。左右应见，然后乃可以言死生之逆顺。
Qí bó yuē: cóng qí qì zé hé, wéi qí qì zé bìng. Bù dāng qí wèi zhě bìng, dié yí qí wèi zhě bìng, shī shǒu qí wèi zhě wēi, chǐ cùn fǎn zhě sǐ, yīn yáng jiāo zhě sǐ. Xiān lì qí nián, yǐ zhī qí qì. Zuǒ yòu yìng jiàn, rán hòu nǎi kě yǐ yán sǐ shēng zhī nì shùn.
Qi Bo said: to follow its qi is harmony, to go against it is illness. He who is not in his proper place falls ill; he who shifts from place to place falls ill; he who loses the place he guards is in peril; when the chi and cun are reversed there is death, and when yin and yang cross there is death. First establish the year in order to know its qi; once the corresponding qi of left and right have been seen, then one may speak of what is adverse and what is favourable in life and death.
**「逆順」本篇1見，在第二十七段之末**；**「逆」「順」各一見，皆止在此語**；**《說文》：逆，迎也；順，理也**；**此語之前有兩個條件：先立其年以知其氣，左右應見**；**「從其氣則和，違其氣則病」在同段之首，是逆順之實注**
素問·氣交變大論 Suwen 69 · 氣交變大論 Read in context →
肖者瞿瞿，莫知其妙，閔閔之當，孰者爲良？妄行無徴，示畏侯王。帝曰：其災應何如？歧伯曰：亦各從其化也。故時至有盛衰，凌犯有逆順，留守有多少，形見有善惡，宿屬有勝負，徴應有吉凶矣。 肖者瞿瞿，莫知其妙，闵闵之当，孰者为良？妄行无征，示畏侯王。帝曰：其灾应何如？歧伯曰：亦各从其化也。故时至有盛衰，凌犯有逆顺，留守有多少，形见有善恶，宿属有胜负，征应有吉凶矣。
Xiào zhě jù jù, mò zhī qí miào, mǐn mǐn zhī dāng, shú zhě wéi liáng? Wàng xíng wú zhēng, shì wèi hóu wáng. Dì yuē: qí zāi yìng hé rú? Qí bó yuē: yì gè cóng qí huà yě. Gù shí zhì yǒu shèng shuāi, líng fàn yǒu nì shùn, liú shǒu yǒu duō shǎo, xíng xiàn yǒu shàn è, sù shǔ yǒu shèng fù, zhēng yìng yǒu jí xiōng yǐ.
The image startles and looks about, and none knows its subtlety; anxiously searching for what is fitting, who among them is good? To act recklessly with no omen is only to display dread before the lords and kings. Huang Di said: how does the disaster answer? Qi Bo said: it too follows each one’s transformation. And so the arrival of the season has its flourishing and its decline, approaching and infringing have their counterflow and accord, halting and staying have their many and their few, the forms that appear have their good and their evil, the lodges they belong to have their prevailing and their losing, and the omen and its answering have their good fortune and their ill.
「故時至有盛衰，凌犯有逆順，留守有多少」——**「逆順」本篇2見：此一見、「其行之徐疾逆順」一見**；**本篇之逆順就五星之運行而言：徐疾逆順是行之遲速與順逆，凌犯有逆順是相犯之勢，與第六十七篇言死生之逆順者同名而異用**；**「逆」讀 nì、「順」讀 shùn**

Compounds built on this term

尺寸
chǐ cùn
the cubit and the inch
本篇1見；與逆順同段，尺寸反者死是逆之極
閒氣
jiàn qì
intervening qi
本篇1見；左右應見者即閒氣
病
bìng
illness
本篇6見；不當其位者病，是逆之始
五氣
wǔ qì
the five qi
本篇2見；非其位則邪，當其位則正，逆順之所由分

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This siteadverse and favourableliteral from 逆 and 順; the chapter's own immediate gloss is 從 and 違, follow and go against, and the rendering keeps that pair visible
Clinicalthe favourable or unfavourable coursehow the term is usually rendered; right about the use, and it loses that 逆 is a direction rather than an outcome
Descriptivewith or against the qifaithful to 從其氣則和，違其氣則病, and it reads like a gloss rather than a name

Entry status

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2026-10-06

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